Amazon Introduces AI-Powered Audio Summaries for Product Pages

Amazon rolls out short-form AI-powered audio product summaries for select items | TechCrunch

Amazon is testing short-form AI-powered audio product summaries on select product pages, the company announced on Wednesday. The audio summaries are voiced by what Amazon calls "AI-powered shopping experts" that discuss key product features, customer reviews, and information from across the web. The new AI product summaries can be accessed by tapping the "Hear the highlights" button in the Amazon Shopping app. Amazon will test the feature on products that typically require consideration before purchase, the company says. The idea behind the feature is to help Amazon customers save time while shopping and get important information through a conversational, discussion-style format. "The feature makes product research fun and convenient -- it's like having helpful friends discuss potential purchases to make your shopping easier, even if you're multitasking or on the go," the company wrote in a blog post. The summaries are currently available on select products to some U.S. customers. Amazon plans to roll out the feature to more products and to additional U.S. customers in the coming months. The company explains that the feature uses large language models (LLMs) to generate scripts by pulling from customer reviews and information from the web, and then transforms this content into short-form audio clips. Amazon says the new feature joins its current suite of AI-powered shopping features, which includes Rufus, its generative AI shopping assistant, and Interests, an AI feature that monitors new products that match your interests. Amazon isn't the only tech giant that's leveraging short-form AI-powered audio to help users get informed in a quick, efficient way. Last year, Google's NotebookLM rolled out Audio Overviews, a feature that gives users the ability to generate a podcast with AI virtual hosts based on documents they have shared with the AI research assistant, such as course readings or legal briefs.

Talk to Me, Amazon Shopping App: How AI Could Sort Through All the Products You're Looking At

Alex Valdes from Bellevue, Washington has been pumping content into the Internet river for quite a while, including stints at MSNBC.com, MSN, Bing, MoneyTalksNews, Tipico and more. He admits to being somewhat fascinated by the Cambridge coffee webcam back in the Roaring '90s. Online shopping excursions can quickly get overwhelming as you plow through product pages to find what's really right for you. Now Amazon is trying out a new tool to help you figure out potential purchases. All you have to do is listen. With Memorial Day deals in full swing, the e-commerce giant is making a trial run with short audio summaries for Amazon Shopping app users, delivered by "AI-powered shopping experts" that will analyze product details, customer reviews and other information they find on the web. "The feature makes product research fun and convenient -- it's like having helpful friends discuss potential purchases to make your shopping easier," Rajiv Mehta, Amazon's vice president of search and conversational shopping, wrote in a blog post Wednesday. Amazon is starting out the "hear the highlights" AI feature in the US for a "subset" of customers on a limited number products before rolling it out more broadly in the coming months. Those products include the Ninja Blender, OSEA Undaria Algae Body Oil, the Rain Showers Splash Pond Toddler Water Table, the SafeRest 100% Waterproof King Size Mattress Protector and the Shokz OpenRun Pro Open-Ear Bluetooth Bone Conduction Sport Headphones. The new Amazon feature is another iteration in what has become an AI flood tide in online shopping. Google earlier this week introduced AI Mode, which is designed to suggest, select and pay for items for you, and also showed off a new AI service called Try On that depicts how clothes you see online will look on you. Walmart is working on its own AI shopping agent to perform tasks such as placing reorders and filling online shopping baskets based on user suggestions. And Shopify has launched Bluecore, which can answer shopper questions and recommend products. Klarna has an AI shopping assistant for comparison shopping. CNET deals expert Adam Oram noted that Amazon's new audio summaries will have to prove their value for consumers. "This feature may be helpful for some shoppers, as there's a lot of information on an Amazon product page and it can be difficult to parse all of it to find out what you need to know," he said. "But it's worth noting that there is a risk with it incorporating customer reviews, especially as these have been known to be gamed in the past. There's also the inherent risk of LLMs hallucinating, which may lead to inaccuracies if this is applied at scale, which is the opposite of what people making buying decisions need." As always with generative AI tools, it's essential to not take results at face value and to do some double-checking. "Using tools to help you gain a sense of what you're looking at quickly is generally a good idea, so long as you follow up with your own research to vet that the information is accurate," said Adrian Marlow, another member of the CNET Deals team. Consumer skepticism could be at least a short-term hurdle for all AI e-commerce tools. A recent study commissioned by Akeneo, a product experience company, showed that only 45% of consumers have "some level of trust in AI-powered recommendations and chatbots to provide accurate product suggestions based on their interests and preferences." The research also found that only 38% of shoppers who've used AI chatbots reported being satisfied with the support they received. Amazon, with net sales of nearly $638 billion last year, is incorporating AI into more and more sectors of its business. Rufus is a generative AI shopping assistant, Alexa Plus has been revamped and Audible will start using AI to narrate audiobooks.

Reading Is Such a Drag. Let Amazon's AI Give You Audio Summaries of Products

Tap the new 'Hear the highlights' button on a product's details page to have Amazon's AI shopping experts explain its standout features. Imagine opening an Amazon product page and, instead of just reading, you hear a salesperson walk you through the product's features as if you were in a physical store. This conversational experience appears to be what Amazon is going for next. In a blog post on Tuesday, Amazon announced that it's testing AI-powered short audio overviews for select items on its marketplace. Customers can tap the new "Hear the highlights" button on a product's details page to have Amazon's AI shopping experts explain its standout features. Rajiv Mehta, Amazon's VP for search and conversational shopping, says the goal is to make product research fun for customers and help them make a purchasing decision. To generate these audio overviews, Amazon uses large language models (LLMs) that draw information from product details, customer reviews, and other data scraped from the web. Initially, the feature will be limited to products that "typically require consideration before purchase," Mehta adds, without specifying the categories. The "Hear the Highlights" button is currently available to a limited group of US customers on select product pages, with plans to expand it to more products and users in the coming months. A lot of products on Amazon already include vendor-produced videos alongside product shots, though they're not exactly award-caliber productions. We'll have to see if the company's AI can come up with something more natural. Amazon has been busy infusing AI into the shopping experience. Its app features Rufus, an AI-powered assistant who can answer questions about a product. There's also a feature that provides a summary of user reviews. Sellers, meanwhile, can bulk-create AI product listings. Similarly, AI-powered recaps on Prime Video and Kindle are intended to help you recall what happened earlier on a show or a book, respectively. At its I/O developer conference this week, Google unveiled an AI-powered shopping assistant that puts its agentic AI to work by finding the cheapest price for that shirt, purse, or pair of sports tickets, and then taking you through the checkout process.

Amazon tests AI audio summaries for products, expanding tech giants' AI Push

May 21 (Reuters) - Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab is testing AI-powered short-form audio summaries on select product detail pages, the e-commerce giant said on Wednesday, as tech companies continue to integrate artificial intelligence across their platforms. The new feature offers summaries about products based on an AI-driven analysis of product details, customer reviews, and other related information from the internet. Currently available for a subset of U.S. customers, the company plans to expand to more products and customers in the coming months. Users can access these audio summaries by tapping the "Hear the highlights" button in the Amazon shopping app. Amazon has intensified its focus on AI integration across its business, recently revitalizing Alexa+, a voice assistant powered by generative artificial intelligence. The company has also integrated tools such as Rufus, its generative AI-powered shopping assistant that answers various shopping queries, and Shopping Guides, which provide guidance and product recommendations, onto its website. Tech companies have been rapidly deploying AI tech to consumers, spurred by the popularity of OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot. Last month, OpenAI updated ChatGPT's web search capabilities to improve online shopping for users with personalized product recommendations with images, reviews, and direct purchase links. Big Tech majors, including Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab and Meta (META.O), opens new tab, have constantly rolled out new AI-driven features and updates across their products. Reporting by Kritika Lamba in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Suggested Topics:Artificial Intelligence

Amazon is testing AI-generated hosts that talk customers through product features

The audio clips draw from user reviews, summaries and information from the internet. Amazon is that involves AI-generated hosts talking through product summaries. It looks fairly similar to , which also include AI-generated hosts that seem plucked from a middling podcast. Amazon says that these "AI shopping experts help save time by compiling research and providing product highlights for customers from product pages, reviews and insights." This leads me to an obvious question. Amazon is . Some studies suggest that fake reviews account for of the sum total. Do these AI hosts pull from those reviews? We've reached out to Amazon and will update this post if we hear back. Each audio summary will remind you that it was generated by AI, just before an introduction from the "expert" hosts. Amazon says these hosts are "like having helpful friends discuss potential purchases to make your shopping easier." You might be able to try this out right now. It's currently available to some US customers on the mobile app for certain products, like , , and a couple of other items. Just tap the "Hear the highlights" button under the product. Amazon has stated it'll be rolling this out to more customers and more products in the near future. I can see this being a boon for those with visual impairment issues, but I listened to a couple of summaries and they certainly don't save any time. I could peruse reviews, look at product information and even conduct a web search of my own in a fraction of the time it took the friendly experts to complete their spiel. The company says this feature is useful when "multitasking or on the go" but I don't tend to mindlessly spend money in that way. Do you? This seems like another AI thingamabob that nobody really asked for, but maybe it'll find a niche somewhere. Again, this could be seriously useful for the visually impaired, but that's not how Amazon is pitching it.

Amazon's AI-generated 'shopping experts' summarize product details in new audio feature

Amazon is adding another AI twist to its shopping app with an audio feature that provides highlights and insight about certain products. The generative AI-powered feature, which Amazon refers to as "AI shopping experts," analyzes product details, customer reviews and information from across the web to allow customers to simply hear key information. "It's like having helpful friends discuss potential purchases to make your shopping easier, even if you're multitasking or on the go," wrote Rajiv Mehta, vice president of Search and Conversational Shopping at Amazon, in a blog post about the release on Wednesday. In the Amazon shopping app, a "Hear the highlights" button shows up on a product details page. Customers click the button to initiate the audio experience. The feature uses large language models to generate scripts, according to Amazon, translating content from Amazon and elsewhere on the web into short audio clips. The initiative is in line with other AI-powered shopping tools released by Amazon, including the shopping assistant Rufus; the product research tool Shopping Guides; the Interests tool that continuously monitors new products in Amazon's store; and others. Mehta said the new audio summaries are currently available on select products to a subset of U.S. customers, with plans to roll out the feature on more product detail pages and to more U.S. customers in the coming months.

Amazon's latest AI shopping feature produces quick audio product summaries

All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission. Amazon is aiming to make shopping just a bit easier. This week, Amazon launched a new generative AI feature that produces short audio summaries, detailing everything you need to know about a product. The audio descriptions, which Amazon is calling "hear the highlights", are created from on-page product summaries, reviews, and information from other websites, crafting short snippets that deliver everything you need to know about a product. The product summaries are now available on a limited number of items on Amazon and for US customers only. To access "Hear the highlights", you can do so in the Amazon app. This is just the latest feature in Amazon's AI line-up. Launched in 2024 but still in beta testing, Amazon's Rufus is a chatbot to help you find the right product. You can chat with Rufus to ask questions about which coffee maker is right for you. Within product pages you can ask Rufus details about a product and get quick answers without needing to do the research yourself. If you're looking to use Amazon's "hear the highlights", here's how. "Hear the highlights" is only available within the Amazon shopping app for US-based customers. When you click into a product page, you'll see a "hear the highlights" button. By clicking on the button, you can then hear the short summary, delivering the essential production description, helping you make your choice. This feature is only available on certain products. You can view it now on the following listings:

Amazon tests AI voiceovers for its product listings

Amazon has begun testing short-form AI-powered audio product summaries on select product pages, the company announced on Wednesday. The feature, accessible via the "Hear the highlights" button in the Amazon Shopping app, uses "AI-powered shopping experts" to discuss key product features, customer reviews, and web information. The AI product summaries aim to help customers save time while shopping by providing important information in a conversational format. Amazon describes the feature as "like having helpful friends discuss potential purchases to make your shopping easier, even if you're multitasking or on the go." The summaries are generated using large language models (LLMs) that pull from customer reviews and web information to create scripts, which are then transformed into short-form audio clips. Currently available on select products to some U.S. customers, Amazon plans to roll out the feature to more products and additional U.S. customers in the coming months. This new feature joins Amazon's existing suite of AI-powered shopping tools, including Rufus, its generative AI shopping assistant, and Interests, an AI feature that monitors new products matching user interests. Other tech giants, such as Google, have also leveraged short-form AI-powered audio to help users get informed quickly, with Google's NotebookLM rolling out Audio Overviews last year. Amazon's AI-powered audio summaries are part of a broader trend of using AI to enhance the shopping experience, providing customers with more convenient and efficient ways to research products.

Learn Everything Before Buying on Amazon With Its New Audio Summaries

I Switched to Google's Public DNS on My Router and PC: The Speed Difference Surprised Me Amazon is testing generative AI-powered audio summaries on select product detail pages to help customers go through quick, spoken highlights of key product features. The shopping giant hopes its eventual wider release will make it easier for you to get the main points before buying. What Are AI Audio Shopping Summaries? Amazon calls the feature "Hear the highlights." These short-form audio clips will tell you the product's key features in about 30 seconds. If you are in the U.S. and browsing the Amazon Shopping app, look out for the Hear the highlights button on selected products. It will only appear if an audio summary of the product is available. The feature is currently available on a limited number of items across categories like electronics, home goods, and personal care. For instance, try it on the Ninja Blender product details page from the Amazon app. Amazon compares this new tool to friends comparing notes on a product they intend to buy. The company said in its blog post, The initial test feature focuses on products that typically require consideration before purchase, giving helpful insights through detailed discussion, and helping Amazon customers save time while shopping. Will the Audio Summary Help You Shop Better? The AI-powered summaries are designed to sound natural and informative. When you tap the audio button, a human-like voice gives a short rundown of key features and benefits. According to Amazon, its AI scans thousands of verified customer reviews and also information from across the web. The company hopes these audio highlights help customers make faster, more informed purchase decisions without reading lengthy text. Remember, it's not the only AI-powered feature now on the site. There are conflicting opinions, but Amazon's Rufus chat is helpful for shopping decisions too. How often do we really scroll down to the dense product descriptions and long lists of features? As a frequent online shopper, I know how easy it is to get overwhelmed or miss important points. Amazon's audio summaries offer a useful shortcut. I think it's also a vote for accessibility or just multitasking when you are on the move. For someone with visual impairments, audio summaries can be handy. I am not sure, but listening to an emotional voice praising a product just might make me tap on the buy button. It does "sound" better than trawling through a dozen reviews. Let's hope the AI does not insert its own bias or gloss over product defects when it's persuading us. If you shop on Amazon's app or mobile site, keep an eye out for the "Hear the highlights" button on product pages when Amazon starts a wider rollout.

Amazon Tests Audio Summaries of Products for Shopping | PYMNTS.com

These AI assistants have done the product research, read the customer reviews and gathered other information on the web. They then voice the highlights of what they found to the shopper, per the post. These voice summaries make "product research fun and convenient -- it's like having helpful friends discuss potential purchases to make your shopping easier," the post said. To access the voice summary, shoppers must tap the "Hear the highlights" button on the product's page within the Amazon Shopping app, according to the post. The first slate of products with voice summaries are those that usually need thoughtful consideration before buying. They are available to a group of customers in the United States, and a broader rollout is planned in the coming months, the post said. Amazon uses large language models to generate scripts for the audio summaries, as they pull together the product description, reviews and other online information, according to the post. Other Amazon AI assistants include Rufus, which answers questions for shoppers on its eCommerce site; Shopping Guides, which use generative AI to provide shopping guidance and product recommendations; Interests, which constantly monitors new products the shopper might like; review highlights, which synthesize product reviews; and Buy for Me, which uses AI agents to buy products from external brands' websites. Using voice to make buying easier for consumers has received mixed reviews from retailers. In the fall, Taco Bell said it had handled 2 million customer orders using voice as it rolled out voice AI systems in more than 300 quick-service locations. However, McDonald's had a different experience. It paused its drive-thru AI chatbot developed by IBM after two years of testing, following accuracy issues. Nevertheless, the PYMNTS Intelligence report "Getting to Know You: How AI Is Shaping the Future of Shopping" found that the use of voice for shopping is gaining traction globally, with 27% of consumers having used it for shopping or paying for retail purchases. Voice commerce is more popular among younger and wealthy shoppers, as 42% of Generation Z consumers and 31% of consumers earning more than $100,000 annually have used voice for shopping or payment.

Amazon tests AI audio summaries for products, expanding tech giants' AI Push

(Reuters) -Amazon is testing AI-powered short-form audio summaries on select product detail pages, the e-commerce giant said on Wednesday, as tech companies continue to integrate artificial intelligence across their platforms. The new feature offers summaries about products based on an AI-driven analysis of product details, customer reviews, and other related information from the internet. Currently available for a subset of U.S. customers, the company plans to expand to more products and customers in the coming months. Users can access these audio summaries by tapping the "Hear the highlights" button in the Amazon shopping app. Amazon has intensified its focus on AI integration across its business, recently revitalizing Alexa+, a voice assistant powered by generative artificial intelligence. The company has also integrated tools such as Rufus, its generative AI-powered shopping assistant that answers various shopping queries, and Shopping Guides, which provide guidance and product recommendations, onto its website. Tech companies have been rapidly deploying AI tech to consumers, spurred by the popularity of OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot. Last month, OpenAI updated ChatGPT's web search capabilities to improve online shopping for users with personalized product recommendations with images, reviews, and direct purchase links. Big Tech majors, including Google and Meta, have constantly rolled out new AI-driven features and updates across their products. (Reporting by Kritika Lamba in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)